Lightning Strikes
by darth picard
Summary: This is a slightly different version of the episode 'The Lightning Man'. I felt like some places could have been changed up a bit and decided to do just that!
Lightinig Strikes- Fairy Tail Fanfic

 **Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a wonderful Easter Holiday! I was just re-watching "The Lightning Man' and I thought that I should write a slightly different version of the episode. Hope you all like it!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.**

"I knew you could do it!" Ever stated happily as the lightning Laxus had fired into the sky chased the thunderclouds away.

"It's only a temporary measure." Laxus said, eyes fixed on the sky still. "The thunderclouds will gather again."

"And the static electricity is still here." Ever grumbled, a spark snapping near her hand.

"But we need it to be quiet for at least a while so we can investigate right?" Freed asked; both him and Bickslow coming up to stand next to Ever and Laxus.

"Yeah," Laxus turned slightly, seeing the villagers venturing from their homes, staring at the now clear blue sky with something akin to wonder. They soon gathered around Laxus, exclaiming their gratitude and commenting on how Borwatt's lightning problem would soon be solved now that Laxus was here.

The Raijinshu smiled as they watched their friend be swarmed by fans. Laxus seemed a bit surprised at the amount of attention directed towards him. He was complaining a little, but his friends knew he didn't really mind.

Then suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Freed noticed a short burst of electricity crackling around a few flagstones set near an alleyway. Nudging Bickslow, he nodded towards it.

"Look at that." He said. "This town is practically made out of electricity." Bickslow nodded, tilting his head to look at it.

"It looks really concentrated there though." He remarked, his dolls flying around him in a loop. Freed frowned, realizing that Bickslow was right.

"It seems to be around that statue over there," he pointed at a tall statue of a person- presumably the mayor of the town. "Perhaps it is worth taking a closer look at." Bickslow nodded thoughtfully.

"Hey Bickslow, Freed! We've been invited to chat with the mayor at his mansion." Evergreen came over towards her two friends. "What are you guys doing?"

Bickslow pointed at the statue. "We think there might be something underneath that statue." He exclaimed cheerfully. "We're thinking of taking a look."

"Look," his dolls chorused.

"Hmmm, might prove helpful." Evergreen said thoughtfully. "But I'm getting a bad vibe from the mayor. I kind of want to see what's going on."

"Perhaps two of us should take a look around the statue, while the other accompanies Laxus." Freed suggested. His companions nodded in agreement.

"I'll head up to the mansion with Laxus," Bickslow said, looking towards the hill. "You guys can look around." The acrobat started over towards where Laxus was talking with the mayor and his secretary, throwing a casual "don't get struck by lightning!" over his shoulder.

"Where are Freed and Ever?" Laxus asked as Bickslow walked up beside him. They were walking up the winding path towards the mayor's enormous home.

"They are taking a look around the town. They think they might have found something." The acrobat explained cheerfully while doing a cartwheel up the path.

"Something" His dolls repeated. They were flying around the group of four in dizzying loops and swirls as they walked- the mayor's secretary was giving the dolls irritated looks.

Laxus frowned slightly, but then shrugged his broad shoulders. He trusted his friends' judgment well enough that he knew whatever they were investigating would turn out to be something important.

They came to the large door of the mansion. The white building and its many balconies and windows shone brightly in the sunlight. As did the several lightning rods on the roof.

"Yeesh, they must have had a sale at the last market day on those things" Bickslow commented, pointing at the many lightning rods on the roof.

They entered the building, and were shown into the sitting room. Once they were all situated- Bickslow and Laxus on one couch, while the mayor sat on one opposite them. His secretary, opted to stand.

"When did the problem with the lightning begin?" Laxus asked. The mayor and Maille exchanged a glance before responding. Bickslow narrowed his eyes. The Mayor's personality had suddenly just shifted.

"Why since you last came here Laxus." Mayor Cybele said, glaring at Laxus.

Bickslow and Laxus looked at each other in confusion. "What?" Bickslow exclaimed. "What do you mean by that!?"

"He fought with some thieves in our town and ever since then, lightning has struck this town daily."

"That's an unfounded accusation!" Bickslow exclaimed glaring at the mayor.

"Wait, it's not." Bickslow turned to look at Laxus in surprise. The Dragon Slayer seemed lost in thought, his eyes staring off into at some point in the distance. "So this was that town." He said quietly. He turned his gaze back towards the mayor. "What do you want us to do?"

Cybele smiled and leaned back. "Why simply stop the Lightning, yeah!"

Bickslow frowned slightly. While that sounded like a simple solution, it was anything but- lightning was a difficult element to direct without knowing the source of it. He observed the mayor and his secretary through the slits in his visor, eyes, narrowing as he studied them. He was starting to understand what Ever meant when she said she got a 'weird vibe' from them. Looking around the room, he spotted several statutes set up around the room. Selecting a small cat statue, he called one of his dolls over to him. The doll landed on his hand and he slipped it into his pocket, directing the soul into the statue.

 _Keep an eye on Cybele and Maille_ he instructed. The soul gave an affirmative response through the mental link he shared with his dolls. He and Laxus stood to leave. Bickslow followed Laxus out of the mansion, casting a glance over his shoulder as he went. The acrobat had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. _I hope Freed and Ever are faring better than we are._

"Underground sewage system?" Freed said confused. "Why is there a concentration of electricity here? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe the source is locate down here," Ever remarked as she made her way carefully along the walk way. She was trying not to step into the water, which was crackling with electricity a bit. She knew if any of them stepped into the water, they, with the exception of Laxus, would be electrocuted.

"What down here could cause lightning- oh." Freed stopped mid-sentence.

"What is it?" Ever came up behind Freed. She stopped when she saw what he was looking at. Freed took a deep breath.

"I think we need to get Laxus."

The walk back to the village was a bit boring. Bickslow decided to amuse himself, by walking on his hands the entire way. His strange behavior earned them several strange looks from the townspeople as they made their way into the town, but Bickslow paid them no mind. Laxus didn't even bat an eye – he was used to the acrobat's antics.

The sky was darkening quickly, the thunderclouds gathering again in force. The townspeople, who had been enjoying what clear weather they had, were retreating inside once again seeking refuge from the coming lightning.

"What were Freed and Ever taking a look at?" Laxus asked. Bickslow pointed towards a statue of Cybele.

"They noticed there was a lot of concentrated electricity there." He said. "I think they might have gone below it, under those metal grates." He started towards it, his dolls following close behind.

Locating a ladder that led below ground, Bickslow and Laxus climbed down into what appeared to be a sewer system. "This is just weird" Bickslow remarked as he balanced on the edge of the waterway. "Weird" the souls repeated.

"Where does this tunnel lead to?" Laxus wondered aloud, studying the winding tunnel. It continued both directions but to their left, there seemed to be a faint glow coming from around a bend in the tunnel. He started down the tunnel, Bickslow following. The turned the corner and saw Freed and Ever.

"What the…!" Bickslow and Laxus were facing an enormous sphere of electricity. It filled the tunnel, and it light up the tunnel with a bright glow. The air crackle with static electricity, causing their hair to stand up on end.

"Laxus! Great, you're here! Now what should we do about this thing?" Ever shouted over. "Freed is writing runes around it to test something but other than that, I'm not sure what we can do."

Laxus frowned studying the electricity. "This is my lightning" he said, sounding a bit surprised. "Come to think of it, the street above is about where I fought with those crooks."

"But how can you tell it's your lightning?" Freed asked. He had finished writing runes and had made his way over towards the edge so he could talk with his friends.

"Each lightning mage's lightning has a different energy signature, the differences are small, but they are there." He explained.

"Huh," Bickslow said, wandering along the edge of the water." I wonder if there's-Whoa!" He was cut off mid-sentence by a stray bolt of lightning. Moving out of the way, he slipped and started falling towards the water-which was electrified.

Laxus's hand shot out and grabbed the back of Bickslow's shirt. He hauled his friend back up onto the stable walkway. "Idiot." He growled at the seith mage. "Don't even touch the water-you'll be electrocuted. Bickslow just nodded, startled from the near miss.

Sighing, Laxus turned towards the sphere of lightning, even as they watched, bolts of electric energy were forming creatures. Without warning, they shot forward, towards the group.

Racing forward, Laxus struck the first one, absorbing the electrical power. He did the same with the other ones, and soon his entire body, including his coat was crackling with electricity.

"Are you alright?" Freed asked. "Even for you, that much energy…" he trailed off. Laxus just faced more of the creatures.

"I gotta absorb it. Otherwise you guys and the town will get hurt!" he said, taking a minute to regain his breath. Ever, Freed, and Bickslow exchanged looks.

"Let us help you then!" Ever exclaimed. She prepared her magic. "Fairy Bomb!" she shouted. Her magic burst to life, disturbing an electric creature, but it just re-formed. Blinking in surprise, she reeled back in shock. "What? It's not working!"

Bickslow frowned and taking a step, directed his dolls to create a brilliant beam of green energy. The creature dispersed in a flash. "Looks like you have completely destroy them" he remarked, flipping out of the way of another lightning blast, taking care to avoid the edge of the water this time. Ever frowned and then tried again.

"Gremlin!" she shouted. This time it worked, and the creature was destroyed. Smirking in satisfaction, she proceeded to take out more of the creatures.

"Go! Figure out what to do about the lightning, we'll handle this!" Bickslow shouted. Laxus and Freed nodded, heading further down the tunnel coming to face the source of the lightning.

Laxus jumped into the water, causing electricity to fill the air around him. "What ae you doing?" Freed shouted over the zapping and sparking lightning.

"Taking care of this! You just focus on protecting the town!" Laxus shouted. Summoning all the energy he had absorbed, he brought it all to focus towards the large concentration of power in front of him. A blinding light filled the tunnel and the air was filled with a metallic scent. Bickslow and Ever shielded their faces, bracing themselves for an explosion. Nothing happened.

Looking up, they saw Laxus and Freed standing further down the tunnel. The creatures, as well as the sphere of lightning were gone.

"It didn't explode?" Laxus asked aloud, blinking in some surprise. He had thought that the energy would have exploded for sure. Freed came up next to him.

"I set up my runes to destroy the explosion." He said, smiling a little at how well his runes had worked.

Laxus nodded thoughtfully. "You set that up real nicely," he said. Freed shrugged.

"I passed my shorthand runes exam."

Meanwhile, Bickslow was listening to the report from the soul he had instructed to remain at the mansion. He was shocked at what he heard.

"The mayor deliberately collected the lightning! Why would he do that!?"

"He probably thought he could charge us for the damages since it dealt with lightning." Ever said angrily. "I knew he was a shifty sort, and now he's been endangering the town!" Bickslow and Ever turned, and ran towards Laxus and Freed who was picking up a small lacrima off the ground. He couldn't hear what they were talking about just yet, but he was sure it wasn't good judging how Laxus's shoulders tensed in anger.

"Hey! Ever's hunch about the mayor was right!" he called as he ran over.

The mayor and his secretary were sipping tea at the mansion, when all of a sudden, a large clash of thunder startled, them, causing the mayor to spill his tea all over himself.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Cybele shrieked, jumping up quickly. Mallie fluttered anxiously around him, dabbing at the spilled beverage with a cloth.

"Mayor! Are you all right?" he exclaimed but Cybele ignored him, instead looking out the large window overlooking the town. Mallie turned and followed his gaze. From where they stood, they could both easily see the lightning strikes. One after another, they struck the ground moving right to left. They seemed to moving towards them…

"Why are they getting closer!?' Cybele asked frantically. Before they could do anything else, a blinding flash of lightning struck immediately in front of the window, sending the mayor and his secretary scurrying backwards as the window exploded from the sheer force of the strike.

Shrieking in fear, Cybele and Mallie clung to each other terrified.

Laxus stood in front of them, his eyes alight with anger, electricity crackling around him in a whirlwind of power, bolts of it flying around him, striking random furniture and objects in the room. He prepared to strike, gathering his power around him.

"Grandpa! I'm scared!" A small child ran into the room and when Cyble noticed, his eyes widened in horror.

"Don't come in here! It's too dangerous!" He tackled the kid to the ground, sheltering his grandchild with himself.

Laxus quickly re-directed the lightning upwards into the sky. As the energy dispersed, the Fairy Tail mage turned to the three figures in the center of the room.

"So you do care for something other than yourself." He said. The Mayor looked up in confusion. Laxus fixed him with a fierce glare. "I thought you were just some good-for-nothing bastard who didn't care for anything else. Next time, put the town ahead of your gain." He growled, turning on heel, he strode away.

Making his way down the path, he made his way to where Freed, Ever, and Bickslow were waiting. Ever was busy chasing Bickslow around with her fan, the seith mage cackled as his flipped and jumped away just out of her reach. Freed watched from the side of the path,, looking amused.

"Come on." Laxus started walking towards the town. "We're finished here." Ever glared one last time at Bickslow and followed Freed and Laxus. Bickslow waited a moment longer, turning back towards the mansion, eyes narrowed. He still wasn't sure the mayor would heed Laxus's warning, he seemed to be the type to just keep doing whatever he pleased. He was shaken from his thoughts by a small zap of electricity. Jumping in surprise, he turned towards his friends.

"Hurry up!" Freed called over his shoulder.

Bickslow grinned, and ran to catch up, falling into step with his friends.

 **And there you go! I know I didn't change that much from the original story, but I felt like some parts could have gone differently, so I decided to write this story. Hope you all liked it and I hope you all enjoyed reading this! Don't forget to leave a review!**


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